


Cure My Ills With Your Hands (Holiness We Can Reach)

by Molotov_Man



Category: Naruto
Genre: Exhaustion, Gai gets loopy and Kakashi gets soft, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Protective!Kakashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27341239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molotov_Man/pseuds/Molotov_Man
Summary: Tension, deep and terrible and thick, soothed with a palm, yielding and warm and steady.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 7
Kudos: 116





	Cure My Ills With Your Hands (Holiness We Can Reach)

**Author's Note:**

> shit I think about on the edge of consciousness

Kakashi hadn’t been safe in his life, and he’d been all too aware of that since he’d joined Anbu Black Ops. He was constantly on edge, and had a hard time turning off, drained as he may have been from use of his sharingan. He lost his normal, his friends, his father; there was nothing left to ground him.

Except this brat with a bowl cut. 

Maito Gai didn’t care for safety all that much. It wasn’t fun, there was no challenge, nothing to be gained. It was a good thing, of course, but not a lifestyle that suited him. He needed the push from home, the pull into the open field of battle. He thrived in the ninja lifestyle and it was no secret—he quickly became the strongest, the fastest, a beast hidden in the leaves.

Kakashi watched him with the kind of love that comes once in a lifetime, because Gai had the unique ability of making Kakashi think that maybe it wasn’t all so bad—and maybe he could be safe, too.

So when Gai stumbled through the village gates, half-dragged by Kurenai and vaguely protesting his condition, Kakashi was there to slip his arm around his waist and help hoist him to Tsunade at the hospital.

“He’s alright,” she squinted into his eyes and Gai gave a dopey smile back. “He needs some serious rest. When was the last time he slept?”

Kurenai folded her arms. “We left four days ago. He swore he slept two nights, but I’ve seen him on two straight days of action. This isn’t it,”

Tsunade rolled her eyes. “Kakashi, please start associating with men who aren’t debilitatingly stupid,”

Kakashi frowned. “Hey, he’s my idiot.”

Kurenai slapped Gai’s shoulder and startled him from his daze. “Great! Then you’ll be taking him home,”

Gai, his voice laced with exhaustion, said, “It was a successful mission, Kashi!”

Kakashi put a hand on his head. “Well done, Gai. Let’s go home,”

“Home? Kashi,”

Heads turned to him. “Yes, Gai?”

Gai shivered. “Please don’t leave. I don’t...Kashi, I can’t,”

Tsunade pressed a palm to Gai’s forehead. “He’s a little feverish. Must’ve caught something on mission. Dumbass thinks he can heal without sleep,”

Kakashi sized up his company before deciding that Gai’s needs far outweighed the propensity for rumors to spread. “It’s alright, Gai, you’re staying with me,” he pressed Gai’s head gently to his stomach and threaded his fingers through his hair.

Gai whimpered softly, wrapping his arms around Kakashi’s waist. “Kakashi, please,”

“You’re alright,”

Gai pushed himself up shakily to pull Kakashi into a real hug. Kakashi nudged him tenderly so his face was pressed into his neck.

“You wanna go home now?”

“Don’t want to leave you, rival,”

“You aren’t, Gai, I have you. I’ve got you,” Kakashi tightened his grip on the other man. “Nothing to worry about, I’ll keep you,”

Kakashi leveled a glare at Kurenai and Tsunade, with the obvious intent of destroying them should they ever speak of the moment again. Tsunade couldn’t disguise her smile.

“Come on, Gai, do you want to go to my place? You can play with the pups when you’re feeling better,”

Gai sighed blissfully. He had immense love and respect for every one of Kakashi’s ninken—he knew each by name and indulged their every whim like a proud father. “Promise you’ll stay?”

“I promise, Gai. You and I can get some good rest, okay? Everything’s alright,”

“Okay,” he let Kakashi go shakily, legs unsteady now that he was confronted with the calming force of his home. Kakashi eased him off and wrapped an arm around his waist.

“Hokage-sama, is there anything I need to do for him?”

Tsunade shook her head. “Make sure he rests. No training for at least two days. And no sex.”

“I wasn’t aware Gai was having regular sex.” Kakashi nearly gagged at the thought of someone else with *his* Gai.

“You can’t feel your dick getting sucked? Shame,”

Kurenai was trying her damnedest not to laugh, but couldn’t help herself after hearing Gai’s next question:

“You’re having trouble, rival?”

Kakashi wished he could melt into the floor. He should’ve known the command was aimed at him. “We’re not fucking.”

Tsunade pulled her files out and began examining them for the next patient. “Why? You need an STD check?”

Kakashi rushed out before Tsunade could say anything else.

Halfway home, Gai’s weight pressing his shoulder down, Kakashi heard something mumbled against him. “What’s that, Gai?”

“Are we fucking, Kashi?” Gai’s eyes were bleary and his feet were dragging despite his obvious efforts to stay upright.

Kakashi went faintly red. “Don’t you think you’d know if we were?”

He shrugged. “You’re really nice to me. If you wanted to, I’d be okay with that.”

“Gai,” Kakashi paused, holding him close and firm, “I’d never do anything to you that you didn’t really want. And I’m nice to you because I like you, not because I’m desperate to act out scenes from Make Out Paradise.”

“Oh,” Gai seemed to promptly forget he’d brought up the subject at all.

“Gai,”

“Hmm?”

“Are you...worried I would do something untoward?”

“No, rival!” He shoved him good-naturedly. “You’re my best friend. I was merely saying that if you desired payment—“

“Gai, stop it. I don’t want sex, I just want you to feel good. You’re seriously out of it, do you know that?”

Gai nodded, suddenly solemn. “I haven’t been sleeping.”

“Why not?” Kakashi nudged his door open and was greeted by a horde of dogs who seemed very concerned about their master’s companion.

“Nothing that a little youthful training won’t conquer! Are you coming?” Gai wriggled out of his grip with a smile at the dogs and turned to the training fields.

Kakashi grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, standing between him and the door. “Gai, you said you would rest with me and I’m holding you to that. What aren’t you saying?”

Pakkun sniffed at Gai curiously. “What’s up with you?”

“I’m fine, rival, Pakkun! I’ve said too much already. Please move, Kakashi,”

Kakashi pulled his mask down (an act which never failed to make Gai gasp) and cupped Gai’s face in his hands, holding him still until he could press a kiss to his overheated forehead. Gai teared up immediately.

“Don’t run from me, Gai. I’m here, no matter what.”

“After your father died,” Gai muttered, eyes trained on the floor.

“What?”

“After your father died,” he repeated, a little clearer, “you had nightmares,”

“Oh, Gai,” Kakashi felt something snap deep in his chest and he wrapped Gai in his arms.

“I’m fine, Kashi, really,”

“Gai, you’ve worked yourself sick trying to get over this. Didn’t it occur to you that you could just come to me?”

“I didn’t want to put this on you. It’s my burden to bear,”

“Alright, strip,”

Gai made a confused noise, looking at him through cloudy eyes, but began to comply anyway. Kakashi turned away from him and gave him a clean pair of loose pants more fit for sleeping, remaining with his eyes averted until he was finished. Kakashi took his own shirt off and crawled into bed, sprawling on his back with his arms wide open.

“Now, lay with me,”

Gai had never been shy about physical affection, but had always been adamant about giving Kakashi space when he was less than clothed or his face was uncovered. It’d taken a bit of reconditioning to let him be chest to chest with Kakashi, but soon enough neither man thought much of it. Kakashi had the feeling that Tsunade would’ve loved to see her best jonin with their guards down around each other—she’d have enough blackmail material for life.

Gai crawled over the bed and laid next to him on his back, staring emptily at the ceiling.

“Gai,”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to tell me what your nightmares are about?”

He covered his eyes with his toned forearm. “I can’t,”

“Why not?”

“I want you to stay, Kakashi.”

All the usual energy was gone from his voice, leaving defeat in its wake. Kakashi frowned, “I’m right here. I’m not leaving,”

“You don’t know that.”

Kakashi turned his head, Gai meeting his gaze reflexively. “Gai, put your head on my chest,”

Kakashi was never this straightforward. Gai turned his eyes down and did as he was told, curling into the other man slightly.

“Now listen to me. You’ve been there for me since I was a kid and I’ll be there for you until you die. That’s not dependent on anything. You’re safe with me, Gai.”

Gai didn’t respond and Kakashi thought he may have fallen asleep until he felt a ragged gasp against his chest.

“Gai?”

Gai pulled away, sitting with his hand clasped over his mouth as he tried to keep tears from falling.

“Sweetheart,” Kakashi reached out for him.

Gai couldn’t hold back as soon as he heard the term. Kakashi rarely used such words. They were a level of intimacy deeper than almost anything else, for him. Gai sobbed.

Kakashi drew him into his chest, positioning his legs around Gai so he could hold him sitting up. “You’re okay, love, just let it go. I’m here. I’m not leaving you, Gai, get that idea out of your head,”

“‘M sorry, rival,”

“Shh. I’ve got you,”

The ninken stood anxiously at the door, made nervous by Gai’s distress. As much as Pakkun refused to show it, they had all become fond of the man and knew of his indomitable will. To see him break? They knew the pain must have been insurmountable.

One of the dogs rested up on the bed to touch his face to Gai’s leg, offering his comfort. Gai gave a sad little smile.

“Your ninken are beautiful as always, Kakashi,”

Kakashi rested his cheek against Gai’s head. “They’re worried for you,”

“They needn’t be. I’ll be in top shape tomorrow!”

“You don’t have to be, Gai. You’re the strongest man I know, you get that, right?”

“W-what?”

“You’re the strongest of all of us. I mean it.”

“I-oh,” in an instant, Gai saw his dreams actualized and fell limply against Kakashi’s solid chest. “I dream about you dying, Kakashi. Every night I see it, and I’m never good enough to protect you. I can never do it. The last night I slept I tried to sacrifice myself for you, but it...I had to cut my own throat, and I still watched you die.”

“You’re strong enough. You can protect anyone you choose without giving your life. I’m not leaving you like that, I’m not dying. I’m here with you right now, where it’s warm and safe,” he guided Gai’s hand to his neck, “you need a break, and some worthwhile sleep.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You don’t have to know. Let me take care of it. All you have to do is trust me and fall asleep while I hold you.”

Gai gave a shaky exhale. “Okay,”

“Good.” Kakashi eased them back down against the bed and Gai slid his arm over his waist.

“Kakashi?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Kakashi ran his hand over his toned back. “Are you ready to sleep?”

“I’m so tired, Kashi. It hurts.”

“I know. You’ll feel better if you rest.”

“You’ll stay?”

“I won’t move.”

Gai breathed deeply and let his eyes fall shut. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Gai.”

When Gai woke up the next afternoon, Kakashi was wrapped around his back, grip as firm as ever.


End file.
